Sioux Falls Diversity Council History

What began as a response to a racial confrontation among youth in the community has blossomed into a positive and proactive community-wide effort to address diversity in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In October 2003, Sioux Falls School District officials invited a wide spectrum of community members to gather and consider how the city might respond to increasing diversity. The initial meeting of approximately 100 people grew into the Sioux Falls Race Concerns Task Force. The purpose of the Task Force was to promote a safe and respectful Sioux Falls for all citizens. Its efforts were designed to move the community along the continuum from tolerance to embracing people of different races and cultures.

Over a four year period, Task Force members met regularly to tackle a variety of issues. Eight working groups focused on specific actions in areas including Employers/Business; Law Enforcement; Media; Research; Education; Agencies/Services; Church/Religious Organizations; and Community/Neighborhood.

At the final Community Race Concerns Task Force meeting in 2007, the working groups discussed future plans for the task force. It was the consensus of the overall task force that there was still a lot of work to do. One of the concerns was the difficulty for a volunteer group to sustain a prolonged effort. It was determined that a more structured “Diversity Council” type approach would be more effective in sustaining the effort to build a safe and respectful community for people of all races and cultures in Sioux Falls.

In response to the concern expressed by the Race Concerns Task Force, City and School District officials convened a steering committee in September 2007 that implemented the Sioux Falls Diversity Council made up of 12 government, agency and community leaders.